I go to Africa on mission and very often take pictures of people with dark and light complexions in the same frames. Either the white people are ghost like and the black people are sharp or the white faces are sharp and the black faces are so dark there is no detail. I have a Kodac 4meg digital camera.
2007-12-23 14:17:09 · 7 answers · asked by Philbert 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Photography
Sounds to me like you are using direct sunlight in your shots. Try using a shady area if its available and use the fill flash.
Try not to shoot when the sun is high, you would have better light at sunrise and sunset (I know you cant catch a fleeting moment if you have to say "could you just do that again in about 6 hours when the suns going down").
Make sure that you arent too close for your camera and that you are actually focussing on their faces and not the brightly lit landscape.
Using fill flash even during a brightly lit day might help with making the darker details come out a little better.
Thats about all I can think of without actually getting a better camera. If you wanted a better camera and didnt have alot of cash theres a ton of film cameras on the used market, craiglist and eBay, some of which have auto everything for under $100. Just load the right film in and your good to go.
Hope this helps
One thing to try is have a hat for all the white guys, it would be comical to have people thinking that all the white guys in Africa all wear the same hats.
2007-12-23 16:52:09 · answer #1 · answered by cabbiinc 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If your lighting is direct then you have a classic situation of the camera wanting everything to be 18% gray. That is the average reflectance of an average scene and it works just fine - until presented with a strong contrast of light and dark such as you describe.
If your camera has Manual Mode try this: meter off the dark face and make a note of it. Then meter off the light face and note it. Suppose the dark face meters as f2.8 @ 1/125 sec. and the light face meters as f11 @ 1/125 sec. If you count f-stops up from f2.8 and down from f11 you'll meet at f5.6. Make an exposure at f5.6 @ 1/125 sec., 1 at f4 @ 1/125 sec. and 1 at f8 @ 1/125 sec. Choose the one that gives the best results. Please understand that those readings are probably not going to happen in the real world. You may get something like this: dark face, f4 @ 1/125 sec, light face, f11 @ 1/125 sec. Here you'll need a scientific calculator to find the square root of 4 x 11. That gives an f-stop of f6.6. Try 1 at f5.6 @ 1/125 sec. and 1 at f8 @ 1/125 sec. and then 1 at the half-click between f5.6 & f8 @ 1/125 sec.
Yet another alternative would be to use a 1/2 gradient Neutral Density filter with the darker half on the light face. One rated at -2 stops should be sufficient.
Note: A long long time ago Kodak offered ISO 100 VPS Professional film for wedding photographers who were faced with a white wedding dress and a dark tuxedo. It actually did a pretty good job with such a high contrast scene.
2007-12-25 15:29:24 · answer #2 · answered by EDWIN 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Personally, I would get a Canon E and use Kodak's Plus X film. I have found that the delicate shadings between black, gray black and gray are well served with this most excellent film.
2007-12-24 23:14:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with photoguy. Get a digital SLR and use that. And do what Antoni taught me - expose using spot metering on the palm of your hand and then increase the exposure by one stop.
2007-12-24 00:27:16 · answer #4 · answered by Piano Man 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would suggest getting a better camera that can handle the job. Something that can adjust shutter speed, exposure, ISO, etc...
2007-12-23 22:45:38 · answer #5 · answered by photoguy_ryan 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Use a camera with more megapixels :]
2007-12-25 07:50:43 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
get a camera you can use manually then use it manually
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2007-12-23 23:16:03 · answer #7 · answered by Antoni 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋